Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers WARNS top four rivals: Daniel Sturridge will be BRILLIANT
Posted Tuesday, March 03, 2015 by Dailystar.co.uk
BRENDAN RODGERS warned Liverpool's top-four rivals they are ready to hit a new level when Daniel Sturridge is fully fit.
EAGER: Rodgers reckons Sturridge can help fire Liverpool into the Champions League
The Kop boss reckons Manchester United, Arsenal, Southampton and Tottenham have yet to see the best of the Reds in the race for Champions League qualification despite an 11-game unbeaten run.
Sturridge, 25, is easing himself back to full fitness after five months out with calf and thigh problems, and is settling into Liverpool's new 3-4-3 formation.
Rodgers said: "Daniel is excited by the new system. He is not fully fit yet and it is difficult for him because these are not training games for him to get fit, they are real games.
"But put a fully fit Daniel Sturridge into that system and it lights it up again. Come the end of this week, Daniel will then be on a great run and able to play every game and be able to train.
"He wasn't quite ready for the Premier League [when he came back] so then we were trying to fit him in games when we could.
"The last thing we wanted to do was break him. He's very determined to play and when you see a fully fit Daniel, he will be brilliant."
Liverpool are now just two points off the top four heading into tomorrow night's clash with Burnley at Anfield.
Brazilian star Philippe Coutinho has been one of the catalysts for change at the half-way point of a season that looked to be nailed on as a horror one for the Reds.
And Rodgers believes the attacking midfielder - who has scored five goals so far - could be a leading contender for individual awards at the end of the campaign.
Liverpool paid Inter Milan just £8.5m for his services back in 2013 and his value has rocketed in recent months.
Rodgers added: "You can certainly multiply the fee a number of times though. I wouldn't want to put a value on him.
"What he gives to the team, he offers that gold dust to how we play. He's a wonderful player.
"He's certainly going to be up there [for awards] - no doubt about that."
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